Board game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A game board having a series of sliders with spaces thereon for the playing pieces and also containing barrier elements. The sliders are mounted for lateral movement between home positions disposed at opposite sides of the board. Each slider has two rows of spaces and the barrier elements are arranged to separate adjacent spaces in one row and to separate a space in one row from the aligned space in the other row. The object of the game is for one player to move his playing pieces from one side of the board to the other before his opponent.

United States Patent [191 Shoptaugh [4 1 May 8,1973

[54] BOARD GAME APPARATUS [76] Inventor: Philip L. Shoptaugh, 5860 Buena Vista Avenue, Oakland, Calif. 94618 22 Filed: Aug. 5, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 169,368

[52] US. Cl.....273/13l AB, 273/131 BA, 273/136 R [51] Int. Cl ..A63f 3/00 [58] Field of Search ..273/131, 134, 136

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,031,193 4/1962 Chapman ..273/131 BA 1,092,599 4/1914 Schilling ..273/131 B 3,163,425 12/1964 Caplan ..273/136 GB FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Belgium ..273/l34 GA Primary ExaminerDelbert B. Lowe Attorney-Carl l-loppe et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A game board having a series of sliders with spaces thereon for the playing pieces and also containing barrier elements. The sliders are mounted for lateral movement between home positions disposed at opposite sides of the board. Each slider has two rows of spaces and the barrier elements are arranged to separate adjacent spaces in one row and to separate a space in one row from the aligned space in the other row. The object of the game is for one player to move his playing pieces from one side of the board to the other before his opponent.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIE I MAY' 8 I975 sum 1 0r 2 OOOOO O v AVENTOR. PHIL/P L. SHOPTAUGH SHEET 2 BF 2 PATENTED HAY 81373 INVENTOR. PHIL/P L. SHOPTAUGH BOARD GAME APPARATUS SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is applicable to a board game which ordinarily would be played by two players although it could easily be a device to accomodate a greater number. The board consists of fixed home positions on each side thereof with a plurality of sliders between the two home positions which sliders have spaces thereon for the reception of the playing pieces of each of the players. Detailed suggested rules of the game will be given later in the application but the general object of the game is to move ones pieces from one side of the board to the other before the opponent can do so. The sliding elements contain barriers so that in addition to advancing ones own playing pieces, by

moving the sliders one can often block an opponents move.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings forming part of this application:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a game board embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the game board shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top perspective view of one of the sliders.

FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view of a slider.

FIG. 5. is a section on the line 55 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS There is shown a game board having side members 7 and 9 constituting home positions, and having different colors to correspond with the players sliders, later described, each of said members having indentations as at 11 and 13 for the reception of markers or playing pieces which can conveniently be marbles or steel balls. In the embodiment illustrated, one player has four gold balls 15 while the opposite player has four silver balls 17. Between the two players are a series of sliders which can move at right angles to the axis between the two home positions, the sliders having color or other indicia to indicate which of the players controls each of the sliders and matching the colors of the home positions. In the embodiment illustrated, sliders 19 and 21 have a dark color indicating that they are controlled by the gold player while the other sliders 23 and 25 are of a lighter color indicating that they are controlled by the silver player. Each of the sliders has two rows of depressions therein as at 27 and 29. The space between the depressions in each of the rows corresponds to the space between the depressions in the home position.

Each of the sliders has five dimples in its bottom as at 31 and is held in place by the grooves 33 which mate with corresponding tongues 35 on the playing board. At the center of the board each row is provided with a spring loaded ball 37 which mates with the dimples 31!. The dimples 31 are spaced by the same distance as are the depressions in the rows 27 and 29 so that when one moves a slider from side-to-side it is retained by the detent action in one of the five positions represented by the five dimples 31. The top surface of each of the sliders is provided with a series of barriers 39 which can be in various, configurations for the various sliders although normally the barrier elements will correspond for each of the players. For instance, the gold player is confronted with an L-shaped barrier on his opponents slider 25 as at 41 while the silver player will be confronted with a similar barrier on the slider closest to him.

An optional feature of the game is that one side can be removed as at 45 so that the sliders can be interchanged. Thus, if one tires of a fixed game, the sliders might be interchanged although it is always best that the sliders of one side form a mirror image of those of the other. Also, a simple board might be provided with a large number of sliders to provide games which vary in complexity and add variety.

Various specific rules can be made up for playing the game of the present invention so the following description should be considered merely as illustrative and not as limiting. At the start of a game each of the players would have his four markers in his home position. In other words, the silver player would have four silver balls on the spaces 11 and the gold player would have four gold balls on the spaces 13. All of the sliders would be centered so that each is capable of moving two spaces to the right or two spaces to the left. The players now begin to play and a move can consist of moving the players own piece toward his opponents home position by as many spaces as are opened to him, providing he does not go over one of the barriers or land on a space already occupied by a playing piece. He can also move any of his playing pieces as many positions to the right or to the left as are open, again providing he does not pass over a barrier. He can also move one of his sliders one position to the right or one position to the left. He cannot move his opponents sliders, so the gold player moving from home position 13 can only move sliders l9 and 21 while the silver player can only move sliders 23 and 25. A player may jump his opponent's piece only if he is on an adjoining space before the move and in jumping his opponents piece he does not pass over a barrier. He must stop immediately on the other side. If he wishes to continue he may do so on the following move. A player must completely vacate his starting position before he can move his first piece into the goal or home position on the opposite side. Thus, a wide variety of moves is possible since one not only endeavors to move his own pieces forward, but also plans moves which will block his opponent. The game ends when one of the players succeeds in moving all of his pieces to his opponents home position.

A very specific structure has been shown but it will be understood that many variations can be made in the game itself as well as the physical structure without departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, certain specific barrier structures have been shown but these might be in various configurations. Four sliders have been shown, two of which are-controlled by each of the players, but it will be understood that a larger or smaller number of sliders might be employed. If an even number of sliders is employed, normally each player would control half of the sliders. If an odd number of sliders is provided, one of the sliders might be a wild slider which can be moved by either player. Fixed members, similar to the sliders in structure, might be provided between the sliders. Each of the sliders is shown as being moveable into any one of five positions but here again a larger or smaller number of positions might be employed. Similarly, each of the sliders is illustrated as having two rows of eight positions but here again a larger or smaller number might be provided.

From a mechanical standpoint, the barriers might be higher or could be eliminated as physical barriers and consist merely of lines painted or otherwise suitably made on the sliders. Balls or marbles have been shown as the playing pieces but any form of playing piece might be employed. Instead of the impressions as at 27, these might be merely painted indicia with small, flat playing pieces which could be moved from place-toplace. On the other hand, instead of balls one might employ pegs which fit in holes and could be moved from place-to-place.

It is not necessary that the tongue and groove construction as at 33 and 35 be employed but the sliders might merely rest in a groove or the like and it is not necessary that the spring loaded ball structure 37 be used but any hump might be employed with corresponding dimples and the dimples might be placed on the board structure rather than on the slide structure. It is not even necessary to employ a physical detent since the board itself might have markings to indicate the various stopping positions of the sliders. Undoubtedly many other variations can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Although the game has been described in terms of moving the sliders at right angles to the axis between the home positions, it is also possible to play the game from the ends using the two ends of the board as home positions.

I claim:

1. A game to be played by a plurality of players comprising in combination:

a. a game board having home positions on opposite sides of the board,

b. a plurality of markers having indicia thereon whereby each players markers can be readily distinguished,

c. a plurality of sliders adapted to slide at right angles to the axis between the two home positions, said sliders being located between the two home positions and being mounted to slide from side to side to certain predetermined positions,

. said sliders bearing indicia corresponding to said markers whereby each player has at least one slider,

e. each of said sliders having a plurality of designated spaces in side by side relationship thereon to receive a marker in any or all of said spaces,

f. each of said sliders having first and second rows of spaces thereon,

g. each of said sliders having barriers thereon, over which a marker cannot move, at least one of said barriers separating a space on the first row from a corresponding space on the second row and at least one of said barriers separating side by side spaces whereby,

a marker can be moved from one home position to the other across said designated spaces.

2. The game of claim 1 wherein said sliders have detent means whereby the slider will tend to stop and be restrained in predetermined fixedpositions.

3. The game of claim 1 wherein the home positions have depressions therein for retaining markers, and said spaces are depressions.

4. The game of claim 1 wherein the sliders are retained by tongue and groove elements.

5. The game of claim 4 wherein at least one end of the board is removable whereby the sliders can be removed and replaced.

6. The game of claim 1 wherein four sliders are provided, each player having two sliders bearing the same indicia. 

1. A game to be played by a plurality of players comprising in combination: a. a game board having home positions on opposite sides of the board, b. a plurality of markers having indicia thereon whereby each player''s markers can be readily distinguished, c. a plurality of sliders adapted to slide at right angles to the axis between the two home positions, said sliders being located between the two home positions and being mounted to slide from side to side to certain predetermined positions, d. said sliders bearing indicia corresponding to said markers whereby each player has at least one slider, e. each of said sliders having a plurality of designated spaces in side by side relationship thereon to receive a marker in any or all of said spaces, f. each of said sliders having first and second rows of spaces thereon, g. each of said sliders having barriers thereon, over which a marker cannot move, at least one of said barriers separating a space on the first row from a corresponding space on the second row and at least one of said barriers separating side by side spaces whereby, h. a marker can be moved from one home position to the other across said designated spaces.
 2. The game of claim 1 wherein said sliders have detent means whereby the slider will tend to stop and be restrained in predetermined fixed positions.
 3. The game of claim 1 wherein the home positions have depressions therein for retaining markers, and said spaces are depressions.
 4. The game of claim 1 wherein the sliders are retained by tongue and groove elements.
 5. The game of claim 4 wherein at least one end of the board is removable whereby the sliders can be removed and replaced.
 6. The game of claim 1 wherein four sliders are provided, each player having two sliders bearing the same indicia. 